(January 12, 1937– ): The famous “golden girl” of Goldfinger, Eaton portrayed the villain’s girl Friday, Jill Masterson, who dies of skin suffocation when her entire body is painted gold by Oddjob. Who could ever forget Eaton’s introduction in the film? She’s lying on a chaise lounge on the balcony of Goldfinger’s Miami Beach hotel suite, attired in a black bra and panties, while she uses binoculars and a radio transmitter to help her boss cheat at gin. When 007 (Sean Connery) sneaks into the suite and turns off the transmitter, she whirls around, showing plenty of cleavage, and asks, “Who are you?” Bond gives his standard retort, “Bond, James Bond,” while, thanks to composer John Barry, moody Bond music rises in the background. Definitely one of the great moments in the series.
A native of Edgware, Middlesex, England, Eaton made her credited motion picture debut as Millicent “Milly” Groaker in director Ralph Thomas’s comedy Doctor in the House (1954), which also featured future Bond player Geoffrey Keen (Defence Minister Freddie Gray in the Moore and Dalton eras). As a fan of crime novelist Mickey Spillane, producer Albert R. Broccoli no doubt saw Eaton in director Roy Rowland’s Spillane adaptation The Girl Hunters (1963) before casting her in Goldfinger.
Post-Bond, Eaton made a memorable impression as Dr. Margaret E. “Maggie” Hanford opposite Lloyd Bridges, Brian Kelly, David McCallum, and Keenan Wynn in the rousing adventure film Around the World Under the Sea (1966). Two years later, she costarred opposite future Bond players Christopher Lee and Tsai Chin in The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968). She soon retired from acting to raise a family.
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